1. He's Just One Of Many Opponents That Ric Flair Made Into A Superstar
When Sting was made into a superstar by Ric Flair after surviving 45 minutes with Flair and pushing him to his limit, it's arguable that it was more a case of Flair giving Sting the rub instead of Sting stepping up to the next level. In 1988, Ric Flair had been having scintillating 60 minute matches for the better part of a decade. In the same way that Flair out-shined the likes of Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, the Funks and the Briscos, Sting arguably excelled, yet underwhelmed (as compared to the six aforementioned legends) versus Flair. Insofar as for the purposes of WCW, Sting could easily be the SECOND best NWA/WCW performer of all time. If you sit some people down, the argument can be made for Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, Brian Pillman and Ricky Steamboat. and others actually ranking AHEAD of Sting. Thus, for as great as Sting is, it could be much ado about nothing. Instead of being in the same breath as RIcky Steamboat, should Sting be in the same breath as Ron Garvin? Possibly. Sting is real, real good. But is he *actually* as great as advertised? There's a really great argument that "hardly" is the answer to that question.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
